30 research outputs found
Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance
Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes
Online dispute resolution: an artificial intelligence perspective
Litigation in court is still the main dispute resolution mode. However, given the amount
and characteristics of the new disputes, mostly arising out of electronic contracting, courts are
becoming slower and outdated. Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) recently emerged as a set of
tools and techniques, supported by technology, aimed at facilitating conflict resolution. In this
paper we present a critical evaluation on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based techniques in
ODR. In order to fulfill this goal, we analyze a set of commercial providers (in this case twenty
four) and some research projects (in this circumstance six). Supported by the results so far
achieved, a new approach to deal with the problem of ODR is proposed, in which we take on some
of the problems identified in the current state of the art in linking ODR and AI.The work described in this paper is included in TIARAC - Telematics and
Artificial Intelligence in Alternative Conflict Resolution Project (PTDC/JUR/71354/2006), which
is a research project supported by FCT (Science & Technology Foundation), Portugal. The work
of Davide Carneiro is also supported by a doctoral grant by FCT (SFRH/BD/64890/2009).Acknowledgments. The work described in this paper is included in TIARAC - Telematics and Artificial Intelligence in Alternative Conflict Resolution Project (PTDC/JUR/71354/2006), which is a research project supported by FCT (Science & Technology Foundation), Portugal. The work of Davide Carneiro is also supported by a doctoral grant by FCT (SFRH/BD/64890/2009)
Touchscreen testing reveals clinically relevant cognitive abnormalities in a mouse model of schizophrenia lacking metabotropic glutamate receptor 5
Metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGlu5) has been implicated in certain forms of synaptic plasticity and cognitive function. mGlu5 knockout (KO) mice and mGlu5 antagonists have been previously used to study the pathophysiology of schizophrenia as they have been shown respectively to display or induce endophenotypes relevant to schizophrenia. While schizophrenia presents with generalized cognitive impairments, the cognitive phenotype of mice lacking mGlu5 has so far only been explored using largely hippocampal-dependent spatial and contextual memory tasks. To address this, we used a touchscreen system to assess mGlu5 KO mice for pairwise visual discrimination, reversal learning, and extinction of an instrumental response requiring no discrimination. Furthermore, we tested the role of mGlu5 in working memory using the Trial-Unique Non-Matching to Location (TUNL) task utilizing pharmacological ablation. mGlu5 KO mice were impaired on discrimination learning, taking longer to reach criterion and requiring more correction learning trials. Performance on reversal learning was also impaired, with mGlu5 KO mice demonstrating a perseverative phenotype. The mGlu5 KO mice responded at a higher rate during extinction, consistent with this perseverative profile. In contrast, wildtype mice treated acutely with an mGlu5 antagonist (MTEP) showed no deficits in a touchscreen task assessing working memory. The present study demonstrates learning and memory deficits as well as an increased perseverative phenotype following constitutive loss of mGlu5 in this mouse model of schizophrenia. These findings will inform translational approaches using this preclinical model and the pursuit of mGlu5 as therapeutic target for schizophrenia and other brain disorders
Dissociating the therapeutic effects of environmental enrichment and exercise in a mouse model of anxiety with cognitive impairment
Clinical evidence indicates that serotonin-1A receptor (5-HT1AR) gene polymorphisms are associated with anxiety disorders and deficits in cognition. In animal models, exercise (Ex) and environmental enrichment (EE) can change emotionality-related behaviours, as well as enhance some aspects of cognition and hippocampal neurogenesis. We investigated the effects of Ex and EE (which does not include running wheels) on cognition and anxiety-like behaviours in wild-type (WT) and 5-HT1AR knock-out (KO) mice. Using an algorithm-based classification of search strategies in the Morris water maze, we report for we believe the first time that Ex increased the odds for mice to select more hippocampal-dependent strategies. In the retention probe test, Ex (but not EE) corrected long-term spatial memory deficits displayed by KO mice. In agreement with these findings, only Ex increased hippocampal cell survival and BDNF protein levels. However, only EE (but not Ex) modified anxiety-like behaviours, demonstrating dissociation between improvements in cognition and innate anxiety. EE enhanced hippocampal cell proliferation in WT mice only, suggesting a crucial role for intact serotonergic signalling in mediating this effect. Together, these results demonstrate differential effects of Ex vs EE in a mouse model of anxiety with cognitive impairment. Overall, the 5-HT1AR does not seem to be critical for those behavioural effects to occur. These findings will have implications for our understanding of how Ex and EE enhance experience-dependent plasticity, as well as their differential impacts on anxiety and cognition
A Brief Outline of the Israel–Palestinian Conflict
Before we can explore the use of management science, game theory, cognitive
science and artificial intelligence to attempt to resolve (or just manage) the
Israel–Palestinian dispute, we need some sort of mutual understanding about the conflict.
Given such a long and multi-faceted history rife with multiple conflicting claims,
interpretations and emphases, all fraught with moral and political implications, it is
unlikely that any account will be acceptable to all parties as authoritative.Nevertheless,
we must search for some common ground. Our examination of history commences
with the life of Abraham, the father of the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam and continues through to a discussion of Zionism and Arab
nationalism. This leads to the creation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948; celebrated
as Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) and commemorated as ‘al-Nakhba (the catastrophe),
according to one’s background. Whilst our discussion concludes with recent
events, including the spring 2011 protests and demonstrations spread throughout the
Middle East, there is no doubt that during the time between which this article is written
and it appears in a journal, momentous events will have occurred
P.044 Effects of exercise and environmental enrichment in serotonin transporter knock-out mice
Online dispute resolution and models of relational law and justice: a table of ethical principles
Regulatory systems constitute a set of coordinated complex behavior (individual and collective) which can be grasped through rules, values and principles that constitute the social framework of the law. Relational law, relational justice and the design of regulatory models can be linked to emergent agreement technologies and new versions of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) and Negotiation Support Systems (NSS). We define the notions of public space and information principles, extending the concept of 'second order validity' to the fields of ODR and NSS